The San Francisco Bay Branch is pleased to present:

 "A Tale of Two Cleanup Programs - 2017"

Featuring:

Ben Heningburg, California State Water Resources Control Board

Wednesday, June 21st

The State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) administers groundwater cleanup primarily through two programs.  One has had decades of robust funding to assist with cleanup and oversight.  The other has had fewer resources even though the sites are often more complex and have had a greater impact on water resources.  The more well-funded program, the Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) program, has been funded from a gasoline storage fee since 1991.  Primarily small business owners and some major oil companies have been reimbursed over $3.6 billion dollars to assist with investigation and cleanup at over 35,000 LUST cases.  Petroleum releases have a higher propensity to naturally bio-degrade.  This and the funding for cleanup and oversight, has resulted in LUST cases moving through cleanup more quickly, the number of open cases declining, and fewer impacts to water supply wells. 

The other program, the Site Cleanup Program (SCP), has had much less funding to assist with cleanup and oversight.  For the vast majority of SCP cases, the discharger is required to finance the cleanup of their site in its entirety and pay for agency oversight under the State Water Board’s Cost Recovery Program.   Approximately one-third of the 5,000 open SCP cases are in the Cost Recovery Program.  The other two-thirds of open SCP cases are subject to limited funds for administrative oversight.  Additionally, SCP cases are typically more complex than LUST cases, since the high variability of contaminants (chlorinated solvents, metals, PCBs, etc.), a lower propensity for biodegradation resulting in legacy groundwater plumes that impact supply wells, and wide variability in cleanup cost.  The number of impacted supply wells indicates there are many more discharges out there than we know about.  Collaboration with sister agencies and water districts to identify and capture groundwater plumes, using the contaminated water as a resource, and identifying those unknown sources for cleanup, are the keys for a cleaner groundwater in California. 

The impacts to groundwater from non-petroleum contaminants have not gone unnoticed.  The Department of Water Resources’ California Water Plan, Update 2013, estimates groundwater cleanup cost for industrial contaminants could approach $20 billion in the next 25 years.  The California Water Action Plan identifies that cleanup of contaminated groundwater and prevention of future contamination needs to be accelerated.  The California legislature passed and the Governor signed Senate Bill 445 that provides revenues to the new Site Cleanup Subaccount; and the public passed Proposition 1, Water Quality, Supply, and Infrastructure Improvement Act of 2014.  These funding sources give promise for stimulating an aggressive cleanup of California’s groundwater. 

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:

5:30 - 6:30 p.m. - No-Host Social and Registration
6:30 - 7:30 p.m. - Dinner and Announcements
7:45 - 8:30 p.m. - Speakers
8:30 - 9:00 p.m. - Questions and Answers

DINNER CHOICES:

• Sliced Beef Medallions
• Cedar Roasted Atlantic Salmon
• Chicken Marsala
• Vegetarian Pasta Primavera

DINNER COSTS:

$45 for Members
$50 for Non-Members
$10 for Student attendees

THIS MONTH'S SPONSOR:

ESC is a single location nationally certified full service environmental laboratory. We provide analyses on soil, groundwater, wastewater, drinking water, air, mold and TCLP matrices. With over 90,000 operational square feet on a single campus, nearly 24/7 staffing and redundant instrumentation for most analyses, our 250+ staff owners are prepared to meet today’s challenges of large sample sets, low reporting limits and fast turnaround.

 ESC is well positioned to serve as your primary laboratory resource in quality, service and capacity. Our demonstrated commitment to being the industry leader in certifications held, easy-to-use field ready sample kits and sample transport logistics has provided us many growth opportunities in major metropolitan areas as well as in the far off corners of the United States.

 ESC . . . One Lab Nationwide

• Certified/Accepted/Approved in 50 States
• Single Point of Contact for ordering kits, invoicing, technical guidance and general lab/sample questions
• Standard 5 to 7 business day turnaround
• Rush turnaround capabilities (Same Day, 1 Day, 2 Day, 3 to 4 Day)
• Real Time Data Access via myESC
• Custom Reporting Tools to compare data against regulatory and/or site specific limits
• EDDs On Demand at www.esclabsciences.com
• Custom Sampling Kits: Preprinted Chain of Custody, Labels, and sampling containers make sampling easy!
• Courier Service and shipping provided throughout California.

 Local Contact

Vincent Vancil | Northern California Sales Representative

ESC Lab Sciences

Cell (925) 204-4955

vvancil@esclabsciences.com

ANNOUNCING SCHOLASTIC SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES - ALL PROCEEDS TO BENEFIT SCIENCE STUDENTS:

GRA San Francisco Bay Branch is interested in supporting university science students. Our Scholastic Sponsorship Program is an opportunity to publicize your business while contributing toward a good cause. Your sponsorship will be acknowledged in the announcement, at the meeting, and space will be provided for a small display and brochures. Please contact Abigail Madrone at amadrone@westyost.com or at 530-756-5905 for details.

 If you have any announcements or questions, please contact the Branch President, Eric Sandberg (esandberg@cascade-env.com) at 415-786-7244, or Branch Treasurer David W. Abbott (dabbottgw@gmail.com) at 510-928-4543.

We are actively looking for potential speakers. If you have a topic or suggestion, please contact the Branch President, Eric Sandberg (esandberg@cascade-env.com) at 415-786-7244